


And I Wish On A Star

by cristina_lore



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate title for this fic: There's Just Something About Keith, Because everyone is focused on him even though no one is in love with him, Everyone wants to know more about Keith, Gen, Good on him, Hell hath no fury like Krolia when Keith has been wronged, Hunk is a nosy little busybody, Keith Birthday Baby Bang, Keith is a mysterious boi, Kosmo is also a snitch, Protective Kosmo, Protective Krolia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 16:19:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cristina_lore/pseuds/cristina_lore
Summary: What is it they always say about curiosity?OR"Where's my fic where Keith lets his guard down enough that he leaves his fanny packs lying around and the rest of the team (Hunk totally starts it) go through the fanny packs and find all his stuff" ~ Me, sometime last year, I think





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Four things:
> 
> 1\. Title taken from Selena’s Dreaming of You, mostly because I feel like Keith’s life left a lot to be wished for. And also because I feel like the team probably wants to know Keith better but doesn’t know how to go about starting that process.
> 
> 2\. Fair warning: This is a fic where Keith doesn’t even make a proper appearance until the end of the third chapter. But all anyone talks about is Keith, so it ends up being a Keith fic anyway kashdfk
> 
> 3\. This was written for the Keith Birthday Baby Bang; you should read the other fics and fawn over the art of everyone that participated. Thank you to fierymullet on tumblr for moderating this whole event. And thank you to the artist that was paired with me! Please check out their awesome art for this fic: http://radicalhoodie.tumblr.com/post/179628907428/this-is-my-thing-for-keithbabybang-for-the-fic
> 
> 4\. Happy (late) Birthday, Keith!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which curiosity doesn’t kill anyone, but indulging in it makes everyone - except Keith - kind of want to die anyway.

The planet they were on was beautiful and lush with flora and fauna; the sky was a pretty salmon pink, and there was even a scenic beach. Vendors called out their wares, and tourists went to and fro, marveling at both the natural beauties as well as the man made ones, which largely came in the form of excellent hotels and sprawling mansions.

 

It was also very, very hot that day, and the majority of Team Voltron did not appreciate extreme heat, especially not just days after they had defeated a powered-up, power-crazy prince. Besides, they needed to keep their energy levels up for their journey back to Earth. Thus, everyone had retreated into the equivalent of a penthouse suite in one of the many seaside hotels. Being famous had its perks.

 

“Oh my God.”

 

Hunk’s incredulous whisper predictably went unheard by the rest of the team. Normally, he would let it go and go back to relaxing, because hey, everyone definitely deserved it after all the hell they had been through, as well as all the hell they would probably be thrown into while making their way to Earth, but he couldn’t do that this time. It would be physically painful to  _ not _ let everyone know what he had just seen.

 

“Oh my GOD.”

 

Everyone looked up, confused. Even Kosmo, Keith’s magical space wolf, looked up at him from his place on the ground. Good, now he had their attention. 

 

“What’s up, buddy?” And Lance’s question had just given him the perfect segway to gesture dramatically at the space Keith had vacated moments before. The confusion visibly ratcheted up a few notches.

 

“Uh...we know Keith left the room. He does that. He’s always done that whenever we have downtime. He’ll be back before you know it, bud; he’s never gone long.” While it was sweet that Lance was trying to be reassuring, he was completely missing the point.

 

“No, I know. Keith’s like...a cat. A slightly feral cat that sometimes needs alone time. Right, Shiro?” 

 

Shiro nodded, still slightly bemused but willing to see what Hunk was trying to say.

 

“But look. Look what he left behind!” He couldn’t contain himself anymore and walked over to Keith’s former spot, then triumphantly presented what he had been trying to build up to the entire time: Keith’s fanny packs.

 

“Holy shit.”

 

Nobody bothered to reprimand Pidge for her language, too entranced by the visual proof that Keith, their Black Paladin with trust issues several miles wide, had just left his fanny packs behind.  _ Like it was nothing. Like he didn’t carry them with him at all times. _

 

This was...this was revolutionary, awe-inspiring.

 

(It may have had something to do with his two year bonding trip with his mother and how he had seemed more centered and at peace when they returned. But still.)

 

“Want to see what’s inside them?”

 

Everyone immediately started talking at once, and Hunk regretted asking the question. But only a little bit. Not enough to tell everyone to forget it.

 

“LOOK THROUGH THEM LOOK THROUGH THEM,” Pidge cheered maniacally, Matt snickering beside her.

 

“Uh…you know what? What the heck, I’m with Pidge; open the fanny packs, Hunk! Let us see their hidden treasures!” Once again, Lance managed to be the most dramatic person in the room without having the highest volume.

 

“Perhaps we should not… but perhaps we definitely should. After all, Paladins should have no secrets!” Predictably, Allura’s curiosity beat everything else out. Romelle nodded along placidly.

 

“YOU KNOW, ON ALTEA WE HAD THESE MARVELOUS LITTLE BAGS, WHICH, WHEN IMBUED WITH A LITTLE OF THIS AND THAT, WERE A LOT LARGER THAN THEY SEEMED.” Hunk had no idea why Coran was shouting to share this tidbit, but he made a mental note to talk to the man about those magical bags. That sounded like cool Harry Potter stuff. He made another mental note to find a way to watch/read Harry Potter out here in space.

 

There was a sigh and muttering off to the side, and Hunk turned his head in time to see Shiro stand up and speak in a clear, commanding voice, “Everyone! Calm down,  _ now _ .”

 

The babble died down, all of them looking at Shiro sheepishly as they remembered that he was both responsible as all get out, and that he was the closest thing Keith had to family besides Krolia (who, fortunately for them, had a week-long meeting with the Blade), therefore having a vested interest in keeping Keith’s private belongings just that -  _ private _ .

 

Shiro sighed again. “I’d prefer you not do this; those are Keith’s personal things. And yes, Allura, I know there are meant to be ‘no secrets between Paladins,’ but we all deserve a little privacy.” Allura closed her mouth and raised her eyebrows, still not completely convinced.

 

“That being said, I know you’ll probably find a way to do what you want anyway, and I’d rather be able to supervise. So go ahead, Hunk. Show us what’s in there.”

 

Loud whoops filled the air, all of them excitedly leaning forward so as to get a better look at the legendary fanny packs.

 

Just as Hunk was about to carefully shake everything out, Lance shouted, “Wait!”

 

“Yes, what is it, Lance?” Allura asked, trying to seem polite but not quite managing it with her foot tapping.

 

“I just wanted to quickly say that I’m on to you, Shiro.” 

 

Shiro raised an eyebrow.

 

“Don’t give me that look! You have to play the responsible adult card, but I bet Keith’s never even shown  _ you _ what he carries around. You want to see what’s in those packs just as badly as the rest of us. Admit it!”

 

“I -” Shiro twisted his mouth. “Yeah, you got me there.”

 

“I quiznacking knew it.”

 

“Can we get back to the damn mystery already?” Pidge asked exasperatedly.

 

“Yeah, yeah, you little heathen, we can look now. Show us the magic, Hunk!”

 

Hunk snorted, but dutifully shook out the contents of both packs. It all looked...distressingly normal. Everyone stared.

 

Hunk broke the silence. “Well...that was underwhelming.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Pidge said as she walked over to rifle through everything.

 

“Pidge, be -”

 

“Yes, Space Dad, I’ll be careful. Now everyone get over here and look!”

 

Shiro shook his head but followed the order, as did the others. 

 

“Ok let’s see, some trail mix - healthy, good; snack bars, damn who knew Keith was one of  _ those _ .”

 

“One of those what?” Coran asked.

 

Pidge peered up at him from her prime position of kneeling in front of the goods. “A health nut. Someone obsessed with light snacks throughout the day and shit. Look, he even has sunflower seeds! And no chocolate or anything. Shiro, is this your doing? It is, isn’t it? You’ve brainwashed Keith.”

 

“Slow down, Pidge. I already said I had no idea what Keith carried in here. Although...when I met him he was mostly eating canned food and microwaveable stuff. But all I did was teach him to cook basic - and yes, healthy - stuff, told him what ingredients were cheap and long-lasting. I had no idea about all... _ this _ .”

 

Hunk interjected with, “He’s had these on him since we came up to space though. Why hasn’t he eaten them yet?”

 

They all mulled over this. It didn’t make much sense, considering that food goo wasn’t the best tasting thing, and Keith’s food, while healthy, was a far sight better than  _ that _ .

 

Matt spoke up. “Well, maybe he was saving it for a rainy day. No, Allura, Coran, Romelle, not a literal rainy day.” The Alteans closed their mouths.

 

“I just mean that maybe he was saving it for when there was no other option. All this stuff is non-perishable; it makes sense.”

 

It did, though it was slightly depressing to think that Keith had been planning for a “rainy day” before they had even been thrown into a freaky space war and liberation movement. An awkward silence permeated the room.

 

Lance finally broke the silence. “Well, Shiro, if you taught him to actually regularly buy stuff to cook, it makes sense that he has extra cash here.” It was true. Among everything else there were a few crumpled dollar bills and loose change. “Not that it makes any difference up here in space. Can I keep it anyway?”

 

“No.”

 

“Fine, fine.”

 

“Ooh look, coupons! And these are pretty good deals, too! Keith needs to teach me his wisdom,” Hunk said excitedly.

 

“The coupons, I’ll own up to. You can never go wrong with a good coupon-”

 

“This is why we call you ‘Space Dad.’”

 

Shiro expertly ignored Pidge and continued, “Keith and I could both show you what the best ones are, if you want.”

 

“That would be great! Man, when we get back to Earth I’ll be unstoppable!”

 

“Sorry to interrupt, but what are these ‘coupons?’” Romelle asked.

 

“Yes, I’d like to know as well!” Coran added.

 

“They help you save money when you go buy something. I can explain more later if you want,” Lance said absentmindedly, now fiddling with a thick, oval shaped device. “Is this what I think it is?”

 

“Let me see- Holy shit, Lance, what the fuck? You almost stabbed me!” 

 

“You’re the one who was reaching for it, Pidgeon. It’s not my fault that’s when the knife popped out. But holy cheeseballs, I can’t believe Keith has a swiss army knife! I’ve always wanted one of these.” He continued to fiddle with it, wanting to get a look at all the tools it held. Pidge stood and leaned in closer to him, wanting to get a good look at it as well.

 

The Alteans also crowded closer, fascinated by the small multipurpose tool. 

 

“Humans are certainly creative little creatures, aren’t you?” Coran asked, scratching at his mustache.

 

“I’m going to choose to not be offended at being called a creature and say yes, we really are,” Hunk said. “You know, now that I think about it, is it really a surprise that Keith has one of these?”

 

Shiro chuckled. “It really isn’t. What you have to remember about Keith is that he may be impulsive, but he’s never been impractical.” He bit back the “he couldn’t afford to be impractical” that wanted to find its way out of his mouth, figuring that that would lead to too many questions that Keith would definitely not want answered. It was bad enough that they were looking through his things, after all.

 

“Ooh, nice, a pencil stub. Bet he whittles out a point with his tiny knife here. Bet he uses the tiny scissors to cut his hair -”

 

“You can talk about Keith’s hair later,” Hunk interjected, grinning at the offended look Lance gave him while the rest of them giggled.

 

“Yeah, Lance,” Pidge cut in. “Save your monologues for Keith. Shhh, don’t deny it. Now what do we have - oh wow. Oh my God.”

 

Lance abandoned his offended facade in favor of his curiosity. “What? What is it? Show us!”

 

“They’re CONDOMS!” Pidge shrieked, half horrified and half delighted. “Two of them! Oh, oh! And a container of lube! This is the greatest day of my life, oh my God.”

 

“Oh sweet Jesus, Shiro! Why does he have condoms and lube?!”

 

Shiro gaped at Lance. “How am I supposed to know?!”

 

“You know him better than anyone!”

 

“That doesn’t mean I know everything about his personal life!”

 

Hunk swallowed down a giggle. “I mean, there really is only  _ one _ thing he would have used them for… and maybe there used to be more; that container of lube  _ is _ only half full -” He broke down laughing, while Shiro simply rubbed his temples and Lance gaped unattractively. Pidge cackled, and Coran, Romelle, and Allura looked vaguely confused but still very amused at their antics.

 

Lance finally came back to himself. “I’m gonna stop you there, big guy, I really, really need you to stop. I’m  _ begging _ you.”

 

“Then beg.”

 

Coran, Allura, Romelle, and Hunk howled with laughter at Pidge’s comment, while she smirked smugly at Lance and Shiro, who at this point, were both red in the face.

 

“All right, cadets, it’s time to move on,” Shiro finally said.

 

Lance whispered, “Please.” 

 

Deciding to have mercy on them, Hunk picked up another small device, though this one was sleeker, thinner, and bigger than the swiss knife.

 

“Huh.”

 

“What? Oh God, if you tell me it’s a digital version of the - the Kama Sutra or something -”

 

“Lance!” Shiro scolded.

 

“Sorry, sorry.”

 

“...It’s... _ not _ the Kama Sutra, right?”

 

“Shiro!”

 

Shiro held up his hands. “I’m sorry! You’re the one who mentioned it!”

 

“And here we see a Shiro finally acting like the 26 year old he actually is; none of this mature bullshit,” Matt teased, chortling at Shiro’s expense. Pidge, on the other hand, straight up cackled.

 

“I - you know what, we are not getting into this; Hunk, what is it?”

 

“Well if you guys hadn’t been so busy being  _ dirty minded _ then you would have easily known at a glance.” He held the object up for inspection.

 

“Huh,” the team said unanimously, save for Allura, Romelle, and Coran, who were still very much confused and wanted an explanation as soon as possible, thank you very much.

 

Sensing this, Hunk said, “It’s an iPod. A device that stores music so you can listen to it at any time.”

 

“How primitive.”

 

“Coran, please! It’s very cute. Positively darling,” Allura hastened to say, as if this made things any better.

 

“Oh well, yes, of course it is, but -”

 

“How about we save this for another time, guys?”

 

They both nodded at Lance, though they seemed a little reluctant to do so. Lance immediately focused on the iPod again.

 

“You know, I’m actually a little disappointed. If anything, I’d expect him to have a Walkman.”

 

“Keith is not an actual old man, Lance, he’s just bad at socializing,” Pidge said, somewhat exasperated but mostly amused.

 

“I know, I know. But wouldn’t it fit with his image perfectly?”

 

“You got me there. Now let’s see what music he has on this thing.” 

 

Pidge swiped the iPod away from Hunk as she spoke, prompting a startled, “Hey!” that she waved away. 

 

She tapped and swiped for a bit before choking on a laugh. “Wow. Just wow. I never thought I’d call Keith sweet and lively, but he totally is.”

 

“Stop being cryptic, Katie.” Matt snatched the iPod out of her hands, looked at the screen, and started cooing. “He’s a sweetheart, oh my God; is it all like this?”

 

Pidge nodded, huge smile on her face.

 

“He’s wonderful.”

 

“Matt. You can’t tell her not to be cryptic and then be as cryptic as possible. Give me that.”

 

Matt handed Shiro the music device, fanning himself dramatically with his unoccupied hand. Shiro rolled his eyes grandly before looking down. He blinked a few times in disbelief.

 

“How did I not know Keith likes Selena?”

 

Lance’s eyes widened. “Selena? Like, Tex-Mex Queen sensation Selena?  _ That _ Selena?”

 

“Yes, Lance, exactly that Selena.”

 

He flailed. “How does Keith know who Selena is? How do  _ any _ of you know who she is?”

 

Pidge affected a valley girl voice: “That’s  _ racist _ , Lance.”

 

“Oh my God, shut up, gremlin.”

 

Pidge laughed. “I mean, her music is pretty popular. It’s not super out there that we know who she is.”

 

“Yeah, Lance,” Hunk said, patting his best friend on the back while struggling not to laugh at the dramatics. “She has the title of Queen of Tex-Mex for a reason.”

 

Lance deflated. “Pretty much no one else at the Garrison knew who she was,” he muttered.

 

“Well that’s because most of them were uncultured swines,” Matt said primly. “They all needed to step up their music game, movie game, meme game...I could go on.”

 

“Please don’t.”

“You pretend not to be fun,  _ Takashi _ , but I know you. Remember that.”

 

“ _ Anyway _ ,” said Shiro, tone indicating that he clearly thought he was dealing with a toddler (Matt had the gall to look proud), “do you want to take a look, Lance?”

 

“Are you the buffest man I’ve ever seen in real life?” Lance enthusiastically took the iPod and swiped through it almost reverently. “The answer is a definite yes, by the way,” he said as an afterthought.

 

“What about Iverson?” Hunk wondered aloud.

 

Lance made a face. “One, he doesn’t count. Two, even if he did, his muscles are probably all weak from being old and surly.”

 

“Point taken.”

 

“You three.” Lance pointed at Allura, Romelle, and Coran, who seemed relieved to finally be addressed. “I know you have no idea who Selena is or what Queen of Tex-Mex means, so come tomorrow, we are having ourselves a very important lesson. Got it?”

 

The three Alteans looked at each other for a brief moment before turning back to Lance, nodding slowly. He nodded back, satisfied, before setting down the iPod and picking up the last item: a folded up, worn out, piece of white photo paper. He unfolded it slowly, careful not to tear it. The others waited with baited breath, until finally he laid out the photo on the couch, kneeling so that the others could crowd in to see.

 

A man of what looked to be Asian descent was half turned to the camera, smiling brightly. He was seated at a small table, and next to him, in a high chair, sat a baby. The child was not paying attention to whoever had taken the photo; instead, he looked about ready to happily face plant into the small, circular cake in front of him.

 

Though the lettering on the cake was unclear, the snoopers immediately knew who the baby was. If it was anyone else in the picture, the fawning would have begun already. But connecting through Voltron had long since shown them that the baby in the photo would eventually be alone and without smiles for quite a while, even if they didn’t really know the full story. For a moment, the only sound in the room was their breathing, now slightly heavier.

Kosmo broke the silence with a strange sound, something like a cross between a whimper and a snarl.

 

It prompted Hunk to speak, albeit in a soft, tremulous voice. “Uh...let’s uh...put everything back in. Yeah?” 

 

He didn’t wait for an answer, already picking up the photo and carefully folding it back along the creases, then moving to place it back in one of the fanny packs. The rest of them followed his lead, tenderly placing all the items back in their rightful place. It didn’t take long, especially since they were all completely silent, and they all went back to their seats, resuming their individual activities.

 

By the time Keith returned, the silence was almost not-awkward. If Keith noticed any lingering tension, he didn’t mention it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk can’t help himself and just digs this metaphorical hole deeper, and is encouraged despite himself.

Two movements after The Fanny Pack Incident, everyone seemed to decide to put what had happened behind them and put all their focus on getting to Earth and not dying. 

 

All except for Hunk.

 

Really, he couldn’t help himself. He had always been a curious sort of guy, and he enjoyed discovering more about anything from energy patterns to punishingly precise recipes to the complexities of a stranger’s day to day life. And this was Keith, whom he had been aware of for quite a while before being thrown into a war with him. Even if he now knew Keith a little better by virtue of always being around him these days (not to mention the weird Voltron bond), he still didn’t  _ know _ him. No one, save Shiro and possibly Matt, did.

 

Which made rooting through his fanny packs and consequently, his life, all the more fascinating.

 

Did he think it was a little immoral? Well, yeah. Especially since Krolia was back with them. Nothing like having to know someone’s ferocious and protective mother was  _ right there _ to make you feel slightly guilty about digging up that someone’s past.

 

...Then again, they were back in their lions now, headed to their next rest stop, so to speak, and there wasn’t much to do besides go through Krolia’s hellish training drills and endlessly wonder about Keith’s backstory.

 

And so began Hunk’s Planning.

 

They soon arrived at their next planned station, a planet that reminded him of the Balmera solely because of the complex system of underground caves and tunnels. The inhabitants were so in awe of them and so eager to please that they gave everyone an individual cave to rest in during the night - or what passed for night, anyway. It turned out that the planet experienced eternal bright sunshine, which could be handled moderately well when it came to work or play, but wasn’t conductive to resting or cool down periods. Hence the underground living areas.

 

Hunk couldn’t have asked for better groundwork for investigation if he had his own personal genie to grant his each and every wish.

 

(Okay, maybe  _ investigation _ was too sophisticated a word for it. It was more along the lines of interrogation, speculation, and gossip. But Hunk digressed. The point was, everyone having their own private caves in a maze of tunnels meant Hunk could pop in for visits to everyone and no one would be the wiser, as long as he was passably sneaky about it. He could do sneaky.)

 

Before investigating though, he had to get something to eat.

 

* * *

 

Who knew that other planets could have pomegranates? Or something like pomegranates anyway. And who knew that animals liked them as much as humans? Not Hunk, that was for sure. 

 

Still, he wasn’t exactly upset about sharing his treasure with the mice, Kaltenecker, and even Kosmo, who had practically tackled him in a bid for the delicious fruit.

 

If anything, this gave him a chance to practice his opening speech for (nearly) every member of their little crew, in order to draw them into conversation about the mysterious former Red Paladin.

 

So far, all he had was:

 

_ So remember how we looked through Keith’s fanny packs? It got weird and sad at the end there, but come on. Are you really going to tell me you’re not still thinking about it? Even a little? _

 

Not his best work. And yet, he couldn’t come up with anything better, so he ended up rambling at the animals.

 

“There’s just a lot to unpack here, you know? If it was anyone else - okay, it wouldn’t exactly matter, I’d still be trying to find out more, but still. It’s Keith, guys.  _ Keith. _ I’m pretty sure his hair is so long because it’s full of all his secrets.” He quirked a smile at the mice, who squeaked at him encouragingly despite not getting the reference.

 

“No one’s allowed to tell anyone about this, by the way. It’s a secret. Don’t want Krolia or Keith to know.” Kosmo made a little huffing noise. 

 

“Yeah, you’re loyal to them and all, but please, Kosmo? For me?” He held out another pomegranate beseechingly, which Kosmo took delicately. Hunk was going to take that as tacit agreement.

 

He spent several hours just rambling on about his theories and questions, though sometimes he veered into more personal territory. It was alright. It wasn’t like his audience could tell anybody what he had been saying. Except Kosmo. Hunk really hoped the space wolf would keep his telepathic powers to himself about this whole thing, especially considering the not-so-little furball had been giving him the stink-eye pretty much the whole time he had been talking.

 

* * *

 

Hunk found his next target soon after the gong signalling the start of a new day rang. (He was definitely going to have to find time to ask about that. Who decided what passed for a day here? Did they have some sort of grand council? How did they choose who rang the gong? So many questions, so little time.)

 

Lance was still drowsily blinking his eyes from the comfort of his bed when Hunk casually strolled in and immediately made himself comfortable next to him.

 

“Hunk? Wha-?” The words were slurred and soft, and Hunk took a moment to feel both fond of his friend and guilty for disturbing Lance the first chance he got. He shook off the feeling and poked Lance in the shoulder.

 

“Lance. Dude. Come on, I need to talk to you.”

 

Lance groaned but rubbed his eyes and sat up. “What’s up?”

 

“Keith.”

 

Lance’s face scrunched up. “You have to know how wrong that sounds, dude.”

 

“Oh my God, Lance, why.”

 

Lance shrugged. “I’m not the one making innuendos all the time.”   
  
“ _ Accidental _ innuendos, and you could just stop pointing them out.”

 

“No can do, pal.” He smirked.

 

Hunk rolled his eyes. “We’re getting sidetracked.  _ What I meant to say was, _ I’m still wondering about the stuff we found in Keith’s fanny packs. The curiosity is killing me, man.”

 

Lance snorted. “Of course it is.” He scrubbed a hand down his face before admitting, “I’ve been thinking about it too. I think everyone has. Though not as much as you, clearly.”

 

Hunk slumped as dramatically as he could. “And it’s a shame, because that means I have to go to all of you instead of letting you come to me. Gossip isn’t supposed to be this hard.”

 

“Poor baby.” Lance patted his arm in mock sympathy.

 

“Stop that and talk to me.”

 

“Fine, fine.” Lance made a noise of consideration. “I keep coming back to the pencil stub for some reason.”

 

Hunk turned his face towards him. “The pencil stub? I would have thought you’d still be stuck on the fact that he’s a Selena fan.”

 

Lance waved a hand. “Well, yeah, obviously. I don’t think I’ll ever be over that. But you know, music is music. Everyone likes music, even if it’s not what you’d expect. But that pencil. He doesn’t even have paper, Hunk. What does he need a pencil for?”

 

“That really got to you, huh?”

 

“No,” Lance denied with a roll of his eyes. “It’s just weird, is all.”

 

“Uh huh. Well, maybe he keeps it just in case he needs to write something down?”

 

“He has a pen on the swiss army knife though. Why would you need a pencil - that you have to keep sharpening, by the way - when you have a perfectly good pen?”

 

They both considered that for a moment, utterly stymied. Finally, Lance slowly said, “The only reason I can think of is...maybe he likes to draw? Pencils are better for sketches than pens, right?”

 

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. You’d think he’d have like a notebook or something though, to keep his sketches in.”

 

“Well a notebook doesn’t exactly fit into a fanny pack, Hunk.”

 

“Fair point. That’s one mystery solved, sort of. We make a pretty good team.” Hunk held up his hand for a high five.

 

Lance gave him what he wanted, though he said, “We already knew that.” He fidgeted. “I’m kind of having a hard time seeing Keith as an artist, though.”

 

At Hunk’s questioning noise, he continued. “Artists have to focus really hard, don’t they? He’s got that part down; I’ve never met someone as intense as him, but like. They have to sit. For hours on end, sometimes. Keith can’t even keep still for a few minutes without getting jumpy.”

 

“You’re one to talk.”

 

“Hey, it takes one to know one, buddy. I get fidgety easily, so I know when someone else is the same way.”

 

“Okay but you’re good at keeping still on missions, when we have you as our sniper.”

 

Lance heaved a great sigh. “That’s different. That’s a literal life-or-death situation; you couldn’t pay me to twitch even a little bit on missions like those.”

 

Hunk held up his hands placatingly and laughed. “Alright, alright, you win. Maybe Keith’s not a secret artist. Which brings us back to square one on the pencil thing.”

 

Lance blew a raspberry. “Forget about the pencil. I’m done with the pencil. Let’s talk about the condoms. And lube! Can’t forget the lube!”

 

“Oh my God,  _ Lance. _ I draw the line at talking about people’s sex lives. Weren’t you and Shiro the ones who were all embarrassed about it that day?”

 

“I’ve had time to process,” Lance said lightly. “And now I’m really curious. He’s hot, objectively, but he’s kind of prickly.”

 

Hunk raised his eyebrows. “Some people are into that,” he said pointedly.

 

Lance threw his pillow-substitute at him. “I guess, though I don’t know why people would be;  _ shut up already. _ But also, Keith doesn’t seem like the type to go on the prowl.”

 

“No, you’re right, that’s more your thing.”

 

“I know you’re trying to insult me but I don’t care right now, because the point here isn’t whether or not Keith has had sex. It’s if he still could if he wanted to.”

 

Hunk frowned. “What do you mean?”

 

“It’s cute that you frown when you’re confused.” Hunk blushed, somehow not used to Lance’s compliments even after years of receiving them. “But come on now,  _ think. _ What did Keith just discover about himself?”

 

“The Galra thing?”

 

“The Galra thing!” Lance crowed. “And he doesn’t look like any other Galra or half-Galra we’ve met. He looks completely human. But maybe not forever.”

 

Hunk huffed. “I still don’t get your point.”

 

Lance flailed in response. “Don’t you see? Keith’s super young compared to all the Galra we’ve met. Maybe he still needs to go through Galra puberty or something. Puberty brings change, Hunk.  _ Change.” _

 

Hunk had a bad feeling he knew what Lance was getting at. “Lance…”

 

His friend nodded gleefully. “Who knows what the Galra have down there? It could be anything! Condoms might not even work on him anymore. Like maybe he spurts out stuff that burns through condoms. Maybe condoms are too small! Too big! Oh my God,  _ Hunk. _ Maybe he doesn’t even need  _ lube _ anymore.” Lance was practically vibrating with excitement. Hunk had had enough.

 

“O-kay, that’s it. You’re way too into this and I didn’t come here for a sex ed discussion. See you later.” He got up and walked out, and then almost bumped into Kosmo.

 

As Lance started in on laughter filled shouts of  _ Hunk, come back _ and  _ We haven’t even started talking about the possibility of tentacles yet, _ Hunk whispered, “What are you doing here, huh?”

 

Kosmo glared at him. “Oh don’t look at me like that. You knew I was going to talk to the others. You’re the one stalking me, apparently.” Kosmo’s glare grew fiercer, and with that, he disappeared in a puff of shimmery dust.

 

“Yeah, you better run.” Then, because he could still hear Lance giggling to himself, Hunk beat it out of there.

 

* * *

 

He didn’t find Pidge in her cave. In retrospect, he felt he should have known better. Pidge was never one to rest when she could explore. It was why they got along so well.

 

After a few wrong turns and asking for directions, he finally spotted her sitting on a ledge of the highest tower in what he was told was a building that housed machines for space exploration. He ran inside, briefly waving to Allura and Shiro, who were in deep discussion with one of the natives. He’d get to them later.

 

He was completely out of breath by the time he made it up the tower he had seen Pidge in, because apparently these aliens were so focused on space science that they thought stairs were the height of indoor construction.

 

His huffing and puffing drew Pidge’s attention, and he could see her attempting to hold in her laughter. He rolled his eyes and made a  _ go on _ sort of gesture. She immediately let loose, holding her stomach as she bent over. By the time she was done, Hunk had already caught his breath and was ready to get the party started.

 

He didn’t waste any time. “Keith. Fanny packs. Go.”

 

“Everything we found seems boring on its own, but all together it’s very, very interesting.”

 

“I knew there was a reason I wanted to talk to you so badly about this.”

 

Pidge laughed. “Maybe so, but I know you went to Lance first. Luckily for you, I both understand and also don’t mind.” She smirked at his sheepish look. “You’re predictable, Hunk, deal with it. Now let’s get down to business.”

 

“To defeat the Huns,” Hunk sang.

 

“Exactly. Now tell me Hunk: do you want to ask a million questions and come up with a million theories or do you actually want answers?”

 

Hunk hummed, deliberating the question. “Ideally, both. But in the end, answers, definitely.”

 

Pidge gave him an approving look. “So how do get those answers?”

 

“Well, we can’t just ask Keith.”   
  


“God, imagine how that would go. He’d be all  _ Can’t you just let an emo be emo?” _

 

Hunk snorted. “I doubt he’d say those words exactly -”

 

“I can guarantee that he would say that, verbatim.”

 

“ - but I see your point. He’d clam up faster than a mouse trap. We need to be sneaky.”

 

“And I am the Master of All Things Sneaky. In fact, I already have an idea.”

 

Hunk bounced on the balls of his feet. “Tell me, tell me.”

 

“Have you ever seen Meet the Robinsons?”

 

Hunk took a moment to process the question, then a few more to try to work out what that had to do with their little problem. Finally it dawned on him.

 

“You’re not suggesting…?”

 

“A Memory Scanner? Yes, yes I am. That thing is a genius concept and I’m surprised no one’s ever tried to build one.”

 

“That’s because it’s supposed to be fictional,” Hunk said with a smile. “But look where we are now, right?”

 

“Right! The past few years could come straight out of a fiction novel. And besides, even if we were living normal lives back on Earth, I still think we’re Cornelius levels of genius. We could totally pull this off!”

 

Hunk could see the excitement in her eyes, and couldn’t help but let himself feel it too. “Oh my God, okay, okay. So we’re doing this. But how?”

 

“We have to crack the hippocampus! Duh.” She gave him a slightly judgemental look. Hunk got the feeling that Meet the Robinsons was probably a favorite in the Holt household.

 

“No I know that; stop killing me with your eyes.” Pidge softened her expression. Marginally. Hunk would take what he could get. “I mean, how do we even get started on cracking the hippocampus? And when we figure it out, where do we get the stuff to build a Memory Scanner?”

 

Pidge frowned. “Well, in the movie, he made it with random stuff. But the most important parts were the headphones and the thing he typed the date in. Mostly the headphones.”

 

“So we need something that can scan the brain, like an MRI machine but smaller and more specific.” Hunk paused. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be headphones, right? Just anything that could fit over your head, like a helmet or some…” He trailed off as the thought hit him. Pidge seemed to be on the same wavelength.

 

“We’re so dumb,” Pidge groaned. “The whole basis of our bond with Voltron are those mind meld helmets.”

 

Hunk bit back the urge to laugh at himself and Pidge, in favor of a more pressing matter. “Yeah, but those got destroyed with the castle.”

 

They stayed silent, the pain from losing their second home still fresh. Hunk didn’t know how Allura and Coran were handling it so well, considering it was the only remnant from the only home they had ever known. If Hunk were them, he’d probably be lying in bed all day, trying not to feel like someone had reached into him and destroyed a part of his being.

 

Oh.

 

He hesitated, looking over at Pidge, who was staring at him with an uncertain look on her face. He waited for her to speak.

 

“You know, maybe we shouldn’t do this. It would be kind of cruel of us to recreate something from the castle without some sort of signal that it would be well received.”

 

Hunk heard the unspoken  _ Especially not because we want to invade someone else’s mind on a whim. _ He nodded. He didn’t want to be the reason one more person in their group felt violated.

 

He said his subdued goodbyes to Pidge and made his way back down the stairs, running into a glaring Kosmo almost immediately. Hunk sighed. Maybe it would be best to let this whole thing go.

 

* * *

 

“Hunk!”

 

He whipped around, looking for the owner of the familiar voice. He soon caught sight of Allura waving at him from outside a quaint little store. She had Romelle with her.

 

Figuring that it wouldn’t do anyone any good to keep wandering around aimlessly, he heeded Allura’s call.

 

“Anything wrong?”

 

She waved his question away cheerfully. “Oh no, definitely not. Romelle and I have just been having the most  _ wonderful _ time - isn’t that right, Romelle?” She turned to look at her companion, who nodded sunnily. Allura faced Hunk once again.

 

“And then we spotted you and wondered if you’d like to join us for some food? The dishes here are exquisite, if Coran is to be trusted.”

 

Hunk thought that Coran could most certainly  _ not _ be trusted when it came to food, but he kept it to himself and instead agreed. Which was how he found himself laying back on a beach chair of sorts and poking at what looked to be shiny, rubbery balloons twisted into fun shapes. Allura and Romelle had already dug in and pronounced it delicious, but he still was a bit wary. Alteans liked to eat the weirdest things.

 

Allura was halfway done with her meal before she very seriously said, “Actually, Hunk, there is something that I - that  _ we _ \- wanted to speak to you about.”

 

Hunk felt the dread begin to pool in his gut. Nothing could ever go smoothly, could it? Not even a road trip (space trip?) back to Mother Earth.

 

He set his spork down and took a deep breath. “Alright, lay it on me. Is someone being held hostage? Is there a rebel group somewhere here that supports the Galra? Is Haggar’s latest monster on it’s way? Did Lotor escape the quintessence field?”

 

Romelle looked vaguely alarmed at his suggestions. Allura was quick to shake her head at her before turning to Hunk to placate him. “Oh no, Hunk, you misunderstood. It’s nothing dangerous. Nothing very serious, really.” She smiled sheepishly at him. “I was simply attempting to make a joke.”

 

Hunk relaxed, letting out a soft chuff of laughter. “Oh. Okay then. What’s up?”

 

“I’m sure you are still wondering about all the fascinating things we found to be in Keith’s possession. We have some ideas on how and why he came by them, and I am sure you do as well. Perhaps you’d like to share?” She grinned at him.

 

Well that was a surprise. Then again, Hunk supposed he supposed he should have figured the princess was starved for some good old fashioned gossip. She was young and curious, not to mention mischievous when she allowed herself to be. On a peaceful Altea, in a castle probably bustling with servants with a million stories to tell about who said what to who and such - well, it was easy to imagine Allura eagerly sneaking around to listen to all the mutterings and whispers.

 

Usually he’d be all for indulging her in something like this, something he considered relatively harmless. But after the way his and Pidge’s talk had so rapidly spiraled...maybe it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

“Ah. About that,” he began. “Do you really think it’s a good idea? I mean, he kept all that stuff to himself for a reason -”

 

“The reason is that we are talking about Keith, our most reclusive paladin. He must try to come out of his shell,” Allura pointed out. It would have been a more-or-less good point too, if it wasn’t for the slight pout she was sporting.

 

That was the only reason he was able to continue the argument instead of caving. “Yeah, but it’s still a reason. We should probably respect that, right?”

 

Allura hummed in a way that was both thoughtful and annoyed, and slumped in her beach chair. Romelle, however, perked up.

 

“It’s important to respect privacy, yes. But I want to remind you that I was stuck on an isolated planet for years before discovering that our supposed savior was a - how do you say?” She furrowed her brows before brightening. “Oh yes. A dick. Lotor was a huge dick.”

 

If Hunk had been drinking anything, he would have done a classic spit-take. As it was, he simply choked on his own saliva. Allura very helpfully thumped him on the back while he worked on catching his breath.

 

“Sorry, sorry. Where - where exactly did you learn that word?”

 

“Dick?” Romelle asked, and Hunk made a wounded noise before nodding. “Pidge taught it to me.”

 

Hunk sighed. “It figures. Anyway, you were saying?”

 

“Lotor was a massive dick and hid us away from the rest of the universe. Traveling with all of you has been my first real experience with well,  _ everything. _ At the very least, you could explain more about each of Keith’s items, in a general context.”

 

That didn’t sound too bad. “Well, I suppose -”

 

“And I’d like to know more about the real heroes. My real saviors. Allura has told me much about herself, as well as Altea, and I’m sure there’s more to learn -”

 

Allura nodded.

 

“ - But I’d like to learn more about Keith. Or at least try to. Being kept in the dark about a person’s motivations and thought processes has backfired before. I will not let it happen again.”

 

Really, it was an impressive little speech. Hunk was actually a little bit in awe. And while she was utterly failing at biting back a smile, Hunk could tell that she was, for the most part, sincere.

 

Which was probably why he was about to very dramatically give in. Damn it, he thought his resolve was stronger than this.

 

As he reluctantly (though the reluctance was partly for show) settled in for a nice, long chat, he happened to glance to the side. Kosmo stared blankly at him from afar, and he blew a mental raspberry at the wolf, who primly turned his nose up.

 

Yup, Hunk was definitely going to the special hell.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk continues to the point of no return, but is met with opposition along the way.

The talk with Allura and Romelle had left Hunk feeling strangely rejuvenated. Probably because it had never ventured into scandalous territory (as it had with Lance), and no one had begun seriously plotting to root through Keith’s brain (as he and Pidge had done.) Instead, it was what he had been looking for the whole time: light-hearted speculating, a little bit of debating, and a nice helping of good-natured snark.

 

Thus, it was with renewed hope that Hunk woke the next day, ready to continue on with his mission. 

 

His good mood grew brighter when he literally ran into Shiro and Matt, not even the slightest bit annoyed or flustered because hey! Two birds with one stone and all that.

 

They graciously invited him to join them on a stroll through a public garden, and he happily accepted. It was like the universe  _ wanted _ him to gossip with Matt and Shiro; it was practically presenting an opportunity to him on a silver platter. And really, who was Hunk to say no to the universe?

 

Shiro, however, did not seem to get the memo.

 

“Hunk, should we really be talking about this?” Hunk gave him an affronted look that he hoped properly conveyed the  _ YES  _ running through his mind. Shiro sighed.

 

“I suppose you’ve already talked to the others?” Hunk nodded. Another sigh. Okay, time to change tactics.

 

“Come on Shiro, I saw you. You’re saying you’re not even the slightest bit curious?”

 

“Yeah, Shiro, not even a little bit?” Matt smiled angelically when Shiro gave him an exasperated look. Hunk decided to press the advantage.

 

“I’m not saying you have to like, properly investigate or something. Just, you know. Hypothesize a little. Maybe provide some insight?” Hunk smiled hopefully.

 

Shiro rubbed at a crease between his brows. “That’s still wrong, Hunk. It’s bad enough that we went through his private property, but now you want to have a discussion about it?”

 

Before Hunk could argue, Matt butted in. “Not to play Devil’s Advocate, but it can’t get much worse than what you already did.”

 

“You know I hate it when you say ‘Not to play Devil’s Advocate.’ I’m pretty sure you  _ adore _ playing Devil’s Advocate.” 

 

“Uh, yeah, I thought that was obvious.” Hunk snorted at the cheeky comment, and Matt winked at him before continuing. “And I notice you didn’t disagree with me.”

 

“I didn’t think I had to, because it can definitely get worse. Gossip is frowned upon for a reason.” 

 

“First of all,” Matt retorted, “who even says ‘frowned upon?’ Keep up with the current terminology, grandpa. Second of all, that’s a vague as fuck statement. Give me three ways this situation could be made worse with some harmless conjecture.”

 

Shiro scoffed. “You sound like a pretentious brat.”

 

“You love it. And I’m still waiting for that list of ways.”

 

“Hell no. I know how this game goes. I give you three ways and then you say, ‘Okay, give me five ways.’ And then I do that and then you want ten ways. And it’ll go on forever like that until we get back to Earth, probably.”

 

Matt grinned unrepentantly. “No, I promise I won’t do that. Come on, just three ways it could get worse. Otherwise, I win and we get to put our thinking caps on with Hunk over here.”

 

“No.”

 

Hunk, who had been swinging his head back and forth between them like he was watching a tennis match, cleared his throat. “Not that this isn’t fun, but I’d rather be arguing over most plausible Keith backstories.”

 

Shiro sighed yet again. Hunk considered pointing out that Shiro did far too much sighing, but he had a feeling Matt would take that and run with it, not only getting them sidetracked again, but also making Shiro less susceptible to that good, good gossip.

 

“Look,” Shiro said. “Obviously I want to know more about Keith. I’ve known him for a very long time, and I care about him. The only thing I am willing to tell you at this point is that I worked too hard on gaining his trust to throw it all away on some ill-advised snooping and speculation.  _ And yes Matt, _ I know I already did the snooping, but I’d rather not add to my infractions.”

 

Matt rolled his eyes, but reached up to pat Shiro on the head. “Yeah, yeah, we get it, you’re a noble type of guy.” For a second, he looked like he held some sympathy for Shiro, but he quickly ruined it by saying, “But just because you’re a regular knight in shining armor doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be. Come on, Hunk, there’s some excellent trees we can sit under to talk to our hearts’ content.”

 

Matt made as if to flounce off, but got pulled back by Shiro, who looked him in the eye and firmly said, “No, Matt.”

 

Once Matt fake pouted, Hunk knew it was all over. There was no way he would be able to get Shiro to break down, no matter how much he might want to. As for Matt, he’d probably take Shiro’s wishes to heart. Hunk could understand that. It was in the code of a best friend.

 

“Alright then,” he said. “Bye guys.” 

 

They waved to him and he walked off, feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn’t caught Matt alone. He was sure that if he had, the man would have indulged him.

 

A lone, sharp bark sounded from a nearby tree. Hunk groaned.

 

“You know stalking me is way worse than me wanting to talk about a friend’s past.”

 

As expected, there was no answer.

 

* * *

 

Hunk figured that that was probably the end of it. There was basically no one left to speak to, and Kosmo was showing up wherever he went with judgemental looks anyway.

 

With Lance and Pidge bugging (read: pranking) each other; Allura and Romelle playing tourist; and Keith, Shiro, and Matt doing some light training; Hunk was left alone, and he didn’t feel like talking to the animals again. So he went off to hang out with Yellow instead, looking forward to some quiet time.

 

That plan was thwarted as soon as he was a few feet away from the huge abandoned warehouse-like building they were using to house the lions. Loud singing filtered outside, the voice immediately recognizable as Coran. Hunk honestly could not tell if the man was singing in Altean or was just making up nonsense words, but either way he was intrigued enough to walk in and simply listen.

 

Coran was so immersed in the one-man-show he was putting on for the lions that it took him a while to notice Hunk. When he did, he didn’t even falter. He just slid in a cheerful  _ Hunk, my boy, what brings you here  _ before continuing his song. It was sort of impressive.

 

Figuring that Coran actually wanted an answer, Hunk said, “Oh, you know, just walking around. Everyone’s busy doing their own thing, and there’s no one left to ta -” He cut himself off. 

 

Coran noticed and stopped his singing completely to ask, “What was that, Number 2?”

 

Hunk tilted his head, considering him. Somehow, it had not crossed his mind to talk to Coran about the Keith Thing. It wasn’t even that he was wary about the prospect; he had just never even put the option on the table. But now...well, it couldn’t hurt.

 

“Say, Coran...do you remember how we looked through Keith’s fanny packs?”

 

“Why yes, I do! In fact, it reminds me of the time -”

 

Hunk cleared his throat. Coran chuckled and made a ‘go on’ gesture at him.

 

“Well, these past few days I’ve been going around asking everyone what they thought the story was behind all of Keith’s stuff. Now I’m asking you.”

 

Coran hummed. “It’s certainly very mysterious, isn’t it?”

 

“Yeah!” Hunk tried not to nod too eagerly. He failed. “What did you think was the weirdest?”

 

“The music, of course. Though that might be more because I had never heard something like that before. Music is very different on Altea, you know. My personal favorites were always extremely upbeat in nature, things you could really shake it to!”

 

“Yeah, apparently that’s Keith’s type of music too.”

 

Coran stroked his mustache. “Yes, it would seem so. It’s a good thing, too. Number 4 needs more happiness in his life.” He clapped his hands together. “Which reminds me! Did I ever tell you of the time Alfor and I - mind you, this was before he was king, so we were able to get away with a lot more, if you can believe it - and we had a fascination with a powder that could be made from the juniberry, not least because our favorite musicians were known to keep it as a good luck charm and even partake in - well, to understand that, I have to tell you…”

 

He went on and on. While this was normal for Coran, Hunk got the distinct impression that he was being brushed off. This was made especially clear when Hunk said, “Uh...I’ll just sit over here with Yellow, then,” and all Coran did was raise an approving eyebrow and let his rambling trail off.

 

Well then. Hunk supposed he could understand why Coran, who was paternal even at his weirdest moments, wouldn’t want to gossip about the personal life of someone who was - for all intents and purposes - under his care.

 

It didn’t mean he had to like it though.

 

He sighed and made good on his word to sit with Yellow. He had only just relaxed on his giant paw when Kosmo appeared right in front of him, a fuming Krolia at his side.

 

Oh Jesus, this was how he died, wasn’t it? All because of his insatiable curiosity and one (1) space wolf.

 

Hunk tried to catch Coran’s eye, but the man just held his hands up, turned around, and strolled out of the building. As if Hunk wasn’t in danger of being dismembered and slow roasted over an open fire. And to think, he had been thinking of making Coran some sort of Father’s Day gift. Not anymore!

 

He gulped, daring to look Krolia in the eye for a quick second. It was a mistake. As soon as they made eye contact, she ripped into him.

 

“How.  _ Dare. _ You. Taking advantage of my absence to look through  _ my son’s _ things? Daring to talk about him as soon as he’s not around? You have the nerve, the  _ audacity _ \- and to think, I thought you were a good bunch! Keith assured me you were all friends, that you, especially, were a ‘nice guy.’” She used forceful finger quotes here, and Hunk felt it like a punch to the face. He was a nice guy! Or you know. He tried to be. He supposed he hadn’t lived up to that reputation in the past month or so.

 

“And this is how you repay him?! You betray his trust, you tell Kosmo to keep it a secret from us...it is absolutely despicable. Don’t think I won’t have a word with the rest of your team as well; from what Kosmo has showed me, they most definitely share the blame. But you, _ you _ were the mastermind here.” Okay,  _ mastermind _ was a bit of a strong word to use in this case, but there was no way he was ever going to tell her that.

 

“If you weren’t part of Voltron, if you weren’t necessary to save the universe, I would tear you apart, do you hear me?” Hunk squeaked involuntarily, and Krolia bared her teeth at him. 

 

“Oh yes, Yellow Paladin. If you are bored and distracted and - and  _ cruel _ enough to do what you did, then you have more than enough energy to accept the challenge of a duel. I know what outstanding fighters you can all be. I’m sure you would hold your own. For a while, at the very least.” She waved a hand dismissively. “But in the end, I would  _ destroy _ you. You have wronged a person very dear to me, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to make sure there was fair turnabout. Do. I. Make. Myself.  _ Clear.” _

 

Before Hunk could nod emphatically, or maybe squeak out a  _ Yes, ma’am, _ another voice sounded from the doorway.

 

“Hunk, what the actual  _ fuck?!” _

 

Great. This was just what Hunk needed. Keith stormed in and immediately got in his face. 

 

“Really? Just, why - how -  _ You fucking jerk.” _

 

Hunk reached out in an attempt to placate him. “Keith, I -”

 

Keith jerked away. “Shut up, Hunk, for once in your life, just quit running your goddamn mouth.”

 

Yeah, maybe he deserved that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which satisfaction brings an entirely different cat back.

Knowing Keith, Hunk had expected to actually be challenged to a duel - or something similar - after the other boy finally got wind of his extracurricular activities. In fact, he would have almost welcomed it. But after his initial outburst, Keith had just kind of deflated and walked away. This, of course, had only spurred on Krolia’s tongue-lashing to new heights, and Hunk, feeling guilty and off-kilter, had taken it with as much grace and non-blubbering as he could muster. 

 

Blubbering was still on the table though, because Keith hadn’t even so much as looked at Hunk in the following quintants. The others could clearly tell what was going on, but other than attempting to comfort him, they did nothing to get involved. Hunk couldn’t even blame them, because while he was being ignored, the rest of them were at least getting stilted conversation. He too, would prefer it if Keith deigned to speak to him, no matter how stiffly. Keith really knew how to hold a grudge. (Not that he didn’t deserve to.)

 

Keith kept up the whole ignoring-Hunk’s-existence thing all the way up to when they got back into their lions for the next leg of their journey. Hunk had just planned on moping a little, maybe getting a little comfort from Lance and Pidge through the individual comm links, but that plan came to a screeching halt when Keith and Kosmo appeared behind him. ‘Screeching,’ because that was exactly what Hunk did as soon as Keith said, “We need to talk.”

 

Hunk took a few moments to get over being startled, while Keith stood with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Kosmo gave a single lick to that face before shooting Hunk a warning look and disappearing.

 

Hunk swallowed. “I’d pretend I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you know me too well for that to work and also I don’t want to piss you off even more.”

 

Something that could maybe be called the distant relative of a smirk tugged at a corner of Keith’s lips. “Accurate.” Verbose as always.

 

They stayed silent for a few moments, staring at each other. Hunk broke the stare and opted for looking at anything but Keith. The utter quiet was getting to him. He had a feeling Keith knew it too.

 

He cleared his throat. “So, uh. I guess Black is piloting herself?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Cool, yeah. Stupid question, I already knew the answer.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Hunk groaned. “Look man, I’m really sorry. You didn’t give me a chance to say it before - not that you owed me that chance! Not at all! Not even a little bit!” The building rage in Keith’s eyes left at that declaration. “But yeah. I am really,  _ really _ sorry. I shouldn’t have gone all Sherlock Holmes on your personal life.”

 

A snort. Then, in a quiet voice: “You know that doesn’t do much good now, right? It’s already done, and the fact that you still don’t really know anything means that you’ll probably be tempted to do it again.” Keith’s wavered at the end.

 

Hunk opened his mouth, ready to defend himself, then thought better of it and kept quiet. 

 

“Yeah, I thought so,” Keith said, in a tone that was trying not to be derisive but failed miserably. Hunk didn’t hold it against him. Silence reigned once more. Keith bit his lip, then sighed. “That was all. I’ll go back to Black now.”

 

“NO!”  Both Keith and Hunk reared in surprise at Hunk’s shout. Keith recovered first and he narrowed his eyes, gearing up to yell like he wanted to. Hunk didn’t let him.

 

“You said we needed to talk, and you’re right. Even if it’s just you yelling at me while I sit here and hang my head and nod every few ticks. Just...please, man, I don’t want to go back to the silent treatment. We’re friends, right?” 

 

Keith eyed him before slumping, all the fight gone out of him. It seemed that once he was given permission to scream and rage, he just couldn’t do it. “Yeah. Yeah, we’re friends. Even if you’ve been a shitty one lately.” Ouch. Well, at least if Keith was still making barbed comments, he had to be feeling somewhat better.

 

“I deserved that.”

 

Keith scoffed. “Not just you, though. Kosmo showed me that  _ all _ of you looked through my stuff, and that everyone chose to gossip with you.”

 

Freaky space wolves would apparently never stop being freaky. Or protective snitches. “So it’s not just me you’re going to talk to?”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “No, you’re the only one I  _ have _ to talk to. You’re the one who started it and continued it. The rest of them are just going to have to spar with me on the next planet we land on. I won’t go easy on them.”

 

Hunk winced sympathetically. Personally, he would have considered the sparring to be the worse of the two evils, but this was Keith. Uncomfortable chats about feelings and wrongdoings would probably always be the most dire consequence he could think of.

 

As he thought of what to say next, Hunk decided that it was still a pretty effective punishment nonetheless.

 

“I’m not going to tell you why I have all that stuff.”

 

Hunk fought the urge to laugh. It was just so  _ Keith _ to just get straight to the heart of the matter, no hedging or dancing around the subject like anyone else would have done. “Yeah, I know. I wasn’t going to ask you to, just so you know. I think I’ve messed up enough.”

 

“Good.”

 

“And you’re right, about how an apology doesn’t do much good now that everything’s done, but I can promise I won’t speculate about your past anymore. Not if you don’t want me to.”

 

Keith gave him a dubious look. Hunk barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “I won’t speculate  _ out loud, _ or with anyone else. I’ll always wonder, but I’m fine with keeping it to myself from now on and not letting it go anywhere.” He twiddled his fingers. “I know what it’s like to have stuff that you want to keep to yourself.” 

 

Keith gave him a considering look that he ignored in favor of forging on. “At the Garrison...Lance used to leave me notes. Just about random things he wanted to say, or like, words of advice. I would hate it if anyone but me read them. I should have known better and I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath. “So yeah. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.”

 

He raised his hand solemnly. “You have my word.”

 

Keith chuckled at that, and Hunk grinned. “Thanks for telling me that. Makes this feel a little less one-sided.” Hunk’s smile grew. “I guess the only thing to do now that you went and told me that is to trust you, right?”

 

“I sure hope so.”

 

Keith waved the sentiment away, still smiling. Hunk took it for the acceptance of his apology that it was. 

 

It didn’t hurt to check, though. “So we’re good?” He stood from the pilot’s seat and held out a hand, which Keith took.

 

“Yeah, we’re good.” At those words, Hunk pulled Keith into a hug. After a brief moment of shock, Keith hugged back.

 

Hunk tightened the embrace before letting go and sitting back down. “Not that I don’t like having you here, but Black and Kosmo probably miss you.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.” Keith’s soft smile belied the flippant statement. The corners of his lips fell into a more somber expression. “Just...ask, next time, alright? I can’t promise I will tell you, but it saves you time, and me a hell of a lot of stress.”

 

Hunk nodded, equally somber. “Yeah. I promise.” 

 

Keith cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the serious atmosphere he had caused when just a moment ago they were at light hearted banter. Just as Hunk was going to take pity and ruffle his hair or something equally tension-breaking, Keith took action. He clapped Hunk on the shoulder in a way that was probably meant to imitate Shiro levels of encouragement but ended up being an awkward cross between a too hard slap and a comforting pat. Only Keith could achieve such a thing. Hunk had to laugh, and he reached up to ruffle Keith’s hair anyway. Keith lightly swatted him away.

 

Hunk turned to the front, expecting Keith to disappear as sneakily as he had showed up. Later, thinking back, he would facepalm at his own naivete. Keith always strived to do the unexpected.

 

“Hey, Hunk?” He swivelled his head around to look at Keith once again. 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to ask: Have you ever seen those Jimmy Fallon videos on the evolution of mom and dad dancing?”

 

“Yeees? I'm kind of surprised that you apparently have, though.”

 

Keith smiled sweetly. It was disconcerting. “Well you see Hunk, I haven’t  _ just _ seen them.”

 

Hunk tilted his head. “What are you saying?”

 

“You’re smart. I know you can figure it out.”

 

He furrowed his brows. “See, it kind of sounds like you’re implying that you’ve put those moves into practice. Several times probably. But come on. You’re…” He gestured to Keith’s everything. “You’re  _ you.” _

 

Keith chuckled. “Let’s just say that if my shack had video cameras, or if the castle hadn’t been destroyed, you’d be able to see and hear footage of me dancing like that. To my favorite music.”

 

Hunk’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean…?”

 

“Oh, I do. I’ve mastered all the moves. The Groovy Hitchhiker. The Shake Your Booty. The Sprinkler. The Pulp Fiction. Almost got The Dougie down. It’s fun, though it probably looks as  ridiculous as it feels. But I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

 

“Oh my God.” A wondering smile spread across Hunk’s face as he thought of how much Lance would enjoy hearing about this. How much  _ Shiro _ would enjoy hearing about it. If Keith was telling him about it, that meant he could share with other people, right? ...Right? His smile froze and he side eyed Keith.

 

“Wait. I’m assuming you’re not going to make me keep this a secret from the team? Because you know that will be nearly impossible.”

 

Keith shook his head. “As funny as that would be to watch, no, I’m not going to make you keep it a secret. Tell anyone you want.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

 

Hunk didn’t trust that shrug for a second. “So...why the sudden secret sharing?”

 

That unnerving sweet smile was back. “Because, Hunk, no one...will ever believe you.”

 

As Hunk processed this turn of events, Keith tipped two fingers in a salute before calling for Kosmo, who immediately appeared to whisk his human off. Hunk finally came back to himself enough to say, “Oh you sick son of a bitch.” 

 

He didn’t think he imagined the sound of Keith’s unrepentant laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re wondering why Keith doesn’t have a portable charger, well, it’s because their world is kind of futuristic so just assume there are chargers everywhere you go, or that everything is solar charged. And also alien magic (jazz hands)


End file.
